[thehighwayman]

Rumours about the health of the Force India team are continuing to worsen.From the latest reports it seems that the team is so cash strapped that it cannot even afford to pay for the monocoque.Sad to see the promising team go out this way.

http://www.worldcarfans.com/11502028...pener---report

[Fullrevs]

I hear Renault are interested to enter F1 on their own and would be keen on purchasing the Force India team. Obviously it wont be for the 2015 season.

[gtonsing]

Thats really sad if true. I was always rooting for this team since their initial days. 2015 looked promising with their strong-ish finish last year and with the driver line-up.

[Fullrevs]

Force India spokesperson seem to contradict the rumours.

Having failed to make their way to Jerez for the first pre-season test, there has been speculation Force India are in financial difficulty.

This was compounded by a report in Germany that claimed the team did not yet have a 2015 monocoque from supplier EOM as the "bills have not been paid."

The report went on to state that making the season-opener in Australia was now "virtually impossible" for Force India.

The team, though, has refuted this.

"We will definitely be in Melbourne and are still planning to test in Barcelona," a Force India spokesperson told Sky Sports News HQ.

Source:PlanetF1

[GTO]

Sad to see another team in trouble (not just because its Force India).

Honestly, cash-strapped Mallya & cant-arrange-for-bail-$$$ Roy have bigger problems on their hands than Force India's survival. Even if Force India does magically make it to the season opener, it's only a matter of time before they run out of funds. For Force India to continue, they'll need new owners.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by GTO

Sad to see another team in trouble (not just because its Force India).

Honestly, cash-strapped Mallya & cant-arrange-for-bail-$$$ Roy have bigger problems on their hands than Force India's survival. Even if Force India does magically make it to the season opener, it's only a matter of time before they run out of funds. For Force India to continue, they'll need new owners.

Would be a bummer because they're quite a decent team for the resources they have. It's also apparent over the last few seasons that they tend to fall back into the pack solely because they can't throw money at in-season development like the top teams can.

I'd love to see them change ownership to someone truly passionate about racing (Vijay Mallya ain't one) and the money to unshackle their talents.

Daydreaming I know, but I'd love it if BMW bought them out.

[Graven5]

A clear case of car not being ready. Rumours can range from funds, wind tunnel testing snags to poor learnings at Jerez.
After skipping the Jerez tests, Force India are hoping to test at Barcelona on February 19th and look likely to survive 2015.

Link- http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/12...nning-2014-car

[arun_josie]

Force India's new car is unlikely to make an appearance on track until the final test of the pre-season but the team is still planning to attend the second test with its 2014 car.
Read more at http://en.espnf1.com/forceindia/moto...C3gxCxEwLuX.99

[killjoy]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

I'd love to see them change ownership to someone truly passionate about racing (Vijay Mallya ain't one) and the money to unshackle their talents.

Wonder why you feel that Mr. Mallya is not passionate about racing? Anything we dont know about?

[Ayr70n_5enna]

It's really harsh on the drivers here, as well as the fans. Last season they gave a tough time to McLaren. Nico deserves a good season this year, and I reckon they'll not give up so easily. Hope for the best.

[D33-PAC]

Originally Posted by GTO

Sad to see another team in trouble (not just because its Force India).

Honestly, cash-strapped Mallya & cant-arrange-for-bail-$$$ Roy have bigger problems on their hands than Force India's survival. Even if Force India does magically make it to the season opener, it's only a matter of time before they run out of funds. For Force India to continue, they'll need new owners.

Exactly my thoughts too. The reduction of logos and brands of indian origin on the FI cars are solid proof of this.

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

I'd love to see them change ownership to someone truly passionate about racing (Vijay Mallya ain't one) and the money to unshackle their talents.

You must be kidding !? Yes money allowed him to do so but of all the 1.2 billion Indian origin people on earth I cannot think of one name besides Vijay Mallya that has gone farther than anyone else in the world of racing. You don't have to like the man or claim he's intelligent or whatever floats your boat, but you can't deny his history and track record. Mallya was racing F1 cars in 1980s India in Sholavaram. AFAIK he was the first person of Indian origin to own an F1 car (that too in 1980s India when most didn't even own a car) and first person of Indian origin to place his company's brand on an F1 car ( he started as early as 1990s with Kingfisher logo on Schumi's Bennetton).


There are so many people who think and act passionate about automobiles but the most hardcore and mental of fans IMHO have been the ones that follow F1. The guy shows up at every race, is involved in R&D (handpicked his core engineers) and even breeds talent with programs.

I think Mallya's a horrible businessman but as a fellow automobile and F1 freak, I have the utmost respect for him as an F1 fanatic. This is the first man to race an F1 car with the tricolor on the streets of Monaco, and in one occasion I think it even ended up fifth (just two shy of podium!! ON MONACO!!) .

What more proof do you want ? Mallya's a been there done that guy when it comes to showing his passion, the guy's put his money where his mouth is. There are tonnes of rich men who have fancy automobiles. Owning the ride doesn't make you passionate IMHO, but going as far as F1 shows how much you really care. F1 is highly technical as we all know and it isn't a place where the passively interested ones can groom a team from back end to the front end.


I have a lot of respect for the guy in this regard. We've all seen how insanely hard it is for teams to go from the back to the midfield and even challenge front runners occasionally. HRT failed, Marussia failed, Toro Rosso is just depressing (but they're suppressed so it can be ignored), Caterham failed, so on so forth.

In the last decade if there's any team that showed how serious they were about F1, it's Red Bull first, and Force India second. Nobody has climbed through the ranks season after season at such pace.


Sorry if I wrote too much but in this regard, I would blindly acknowledge Mallya's innate and heartfelt feelings for F1. To me the guy is in a league of his own, a different stratosphere as far as Indians in F1 are concerned. I still remember the 08 and 09 days when I used to think how Mallya was only doing India a disservice by running a crappy team. The transformation they underwent given their resources is worthy of praise.

[Fullrevs]

Originally Posted by Ayr70n_5enna

It's really harsh on the drivers here, as well as the fans. Last season they gave a tough time to McLaren. Nico deserves a good season this year, and I reckon they'll not give up so easily. Hope for the best.

Nico was smart enough to sign with Porsche. Hope he wont need to go full time into WEC. He deserves a top F1 seat. The guy is good.

[Maky]

Aside from financial related issues their on-track performance will possibly be severely degraded, atleast for the first few races, given they've missed Jerez and will as per reports miss the next set of tests as well. I fear their fall will be similar to Saubers just last year, the same Sauber who've made it for testing this year and look likely to be stable for the entire 2015 season. FI on the other hand were the toast of the mid-field last year but today.....

....goes to show how quickly things can change in Formula One.

On the one hand it makes me sad to see a team with my countries name on it die out but on the other not so much given the owner has made questionable decisions when it comes to paying employees what they're owed.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by D33-PAC

You must be kidding.........

Nope, not kidding at all. Money and sentimentality aside, there's nothing Indian about Force India. Mallya did very well to capitalise on the pseudo 'Indian' angle while the craze lasted. Other than that, the man has made some really bad financial decisions for the team, and the results are obvious. I appreciate the talent at their disposal, but I never bought into the 'hopes and dreams of 1.2 billion Indians' rhetoric. Most Indians aren't even interested in F1, forget being passionate about it.

The transformation they underwent given their resources is worthy of praise.

The team, absolutely. The owner, not so much. Refer my reply to GTO, I've always thought the team was decent and capable of much more, only hampered by their inability to spend on in-season development. The owner is more a hindrance than an asset to the team at this point, that's why I hope they're bought out. I'd hate for a good team to suffer at the hands of an inept businessman owner. Given the right backing, the team is capable of moving up from midfield.

Purely my opinion, and I admire your perspective of the owner and the team. I agree about the team, disagree about the owner. To each his own.

[D33-PAC]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Nope, not kidding at all. Money and sentimentality aside, there's nothing Indian about Force India. Mallya did very well to capitalise on the pseudo 'Indian' angle while the craze lasted. Other than that, the man has made some really bad financial decisions for the team, and the results are obvious. I appreciate the talent at their disposal, but I never bought into the 'hopes and dreams of 1.2 billion Indians' rhetoric. Most Indians aren't even interested in F1, forget being passionate about it.

I thought the subject was whether there was an Indian more passionate than Mallya about F1 ? I only meant to discuss that. But I'm of the same mind regarding your thoughts on how "Indian" force india is (I don't think it's really Indian either).

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

The team, absolutely. The owner, not so much. Refer my reply to GTO, I've always thought the team was decent and capable of much more, only hampered by their inability to spend on in-season development. The owner is more a hindrance than an asset to the team at this point, that's why I hope they're bought out. I'd hate for a good team to suffer at the hands of an inept businessman owner. Given the right backing, the team is capable of moving up from midfield.

Very good point. Again, I agree. Better for a big boy with big pockets and financial intelligence to attain FI. I agree FI could move up if they spent more.

As for your statement "To each his own.", I very much concur !

BTW if I ever came across as a Mallya fanboy, I want to let you know I work in the field of finance and banking, and I always tell my colleagues how bad of a businessman Mallya is - that he spends money like it's nothing. I have no praises for Vijay Mallya the businessman (so now you see how unbiased I am being), but I only meant to praise him as an F1 fanatic ( in the strictest sense), which is what I thought we were discussing (is there some Indian more passionate about F1 than Mallya).